Kavanaugh 😍 Lem 🥰 Kavanaugh and Lem 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰 [SPOILERS] Two assumptions I made in my 5x1 review were that the show would now properly dedicate itself to its best attributes rather than occasionally showing them and that Kavanaugh will be the person to truly test the strike team, and both of these assumptions were proven correct right out of the gate with Kavanaugh speaking to Lem. Ever since 3x14 Lem has basically been the most interesting and distinctive character of the show, largely due to his inner conflict surrounding his morals and how he feels about his presence on the strike team, but this attribute of his character wasn’t exploited very much. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, this core trait regarding his character being less relevant before this season aligns well with the vision of the first 4 seasons, which essentially sees the strike team burying their heads in the sand in regards to what they’re really like as they continue to avoid the potential repercussions of their actions. However, I’m glad we’re finally seeing this lack of utilisation come to an end as his guilt and morality is confronted in such a direct way, with the more complex and emotionally compelling aspects of his character being brought to the surface with Kavanaugh putting a wire on him to build a case against the strike team. Kavanaugh IMMEDIATELY pushes Lem as a character by playing on his conscience and trying to tear apart his care for the rest of the strike team by implying that he wasn’t aware of the fact that Vic actually did kill Terry, highlighting the falsity of Vic’s ideas of being a team that he instills within Shane, Lem and Ronnie (which becomes important thanks to the confrontation at the end of this episode). The performance from Lem’s actor after this is fantastic, with his reactions to lines from Vic such as “protecting a killer makes you no better than he is” perfectly tying into what he’s going through right now and adding another layer of emotional depth to the case in this episode. Kavanaugh’s role in this season is already expertly defined and Lem’s character was the best vessel to express it, as he’s always been the most inherently unique character from the strike team that’ll be the most suited to bringing out the true corruption of the team overall with how they respond to Kavanaugh’s actions. Everything I just described is perfectly encapsulated through the final scene of this episode. As Lem confronts Vic, Vic’s posturing of being a part of a “team” who he cares about like family completely falls apart on him. Lem tells Vic to be truly honest to him about what happened to Terry to prove the care that he expresses towards him, and yet Vic still can’t bring himself to do it due to his need to avoid the risk of being caught or admit what he’s really like. It’s in this moment that as much as Lem may not want to believe it, he realises that Vic is somebody completely capable of killing Terry for his own sake, momentarily seeing past his posturing before regressing again in the following episode. This entire interaction brought on by Kavanaugh’s presence in the show is a perfect microcosm for the disingenuous nature behind the ideas Vic sells to the rest of the strike team, with his own benefit always being prioritised above his connection to them when he’s actually backed into a corner where he has to choose one or the other. Aside from that, the side plots here are great, with the structure of the show’s main plot now being so well defined there’s also a far better sense of flow and momentum to everything else as well. Tina is a great addition to the show whose inexperience adds a more innocent feeling that the show lost after a while, which feels all the more necessary thanks to the tone of everything else, and Dutch and Claudette are great even for their standards. The whole thing with Claudette “hiding something” from Dutch is reminiscent of Danny’s pregnancy in the sense that it adds a sense of mystery to the show to make it a lot more exciting to continue with from episode to episode, and hopefully both of these things pay off well. I felt like Dutch and Claudette being at odds with one another last season didn’t really build up to much, so hopefully if they stick with this approach of having more tension and conflict between the two of them it'll actually stick and resolve well.